Like this:

A dream.

Last night I dreamt I was talking to some people, and they were nodding and responding appropriately. I realized later I was talking to them in Chinese, and they weren’t Chinese speakers, but they said it was obvious what I was saying and no big deal.

This has happened to me in real life; I had an extended conversation with someone in Spanish who wasn’t really a Spanish speaker… a Venezuelan friend uncomfortably it out to me.

Later (not today) I’m going to write a post about “language hijackers;” who they are, why they don’t usually bother me, and what I do if they do start to bother me.

A rule.

I’ve been saying for a long time that I’m going to write a post about sample sentences, how to write them properly, and why it’s important. Today is not the day I’m going to write that post. But just in case I forget, I want to include this rule:

Sample sentences are supposed to help you understand the target vocab/text/language; they are not supposed to confuse you more. New rule: every time you have to look up grammar or vocab from a sample sentence that’s above your level, you get to kick the textbook author in the face.

A sunset.

Rather than grinding out the vocab and grammar today, I took a delicious nap. Then I drove to Seaside to eat pho, and when I got there, it was closed. Brutal. But it was also sunset, so I went to the beach and watched the sun set over Monterey Bay, before heading back to grind out the vocab and grammar.

The workload in my classes, it’s too much. We are told to study over twenty new words a day, and we have no idea which ones are important and which ones we’ll never see again. We could totally handle this quantity of content if there was more practice and less analysis. There’s not.

On the other hand, I feel like I’ve been placed at exactly the right level, and I like everybody, and I like the class. That has NOT always been the case over my career as a serial summer-intensive student. Count em: this is the SEVENTH summer language intensive that I’ve taken, and so far this is the one that I feel the best about.

Vocab is below; I’ll review it in the morning.

暑假 shǔjià summer break

疑问 yíwèn question, interrogation, doubt.

属于 shǔyú classified as, belong to

实践 shí jiàn practice, put into practice, fulfill

接触 jiēchù to touch, connect, access, be in touch with

维护 wéihù to defend, safeguard, uphold, maintain

考 kǎo beat, hit, take a test

类 lèi kind, type, class, category, like

吸引 xīyǐn to attract

不远千里 bùyuǎn qiānlǐ make light/go to the trouble of traveling long distance